Ask Alexa to Find Your Lost Phone

Did you misplace your cell phone at some point in the day? Don’t worry, your Echo’s helpful voice assistant can help you find it

Oops, you've lost your mobile phone. Can't find it anywhere. Both iOS and Android offer features to track down a missing phone, but you can also get help from your Amazon Echo. Alexa serves up a few skills through which you can ring or ping your phone to track it down. Let's check them out.

1Open the Alexa App

To get started, open the Alexa app. Tap on the Hamburger icon () and select Skills & Games. In the Search field, type find phone to see a list of skills in this area.

2Find My Phone

With the Find My Phone skill, you can ask Alexa to call your own phone as well as the phones of people you know. Say "Alexa, find my phone." The first time you do this, Alexa asks for your mobile phone number. Give your number. Alexa texts a code number to your phone to confirm you as the owner. Give the number to Alexa. Alexa rings your phone. Answer it, say hello, and a recorded message says "Glad you found your phone."

If you want to add another person to the service, say "Alexa, ask Find My Phone to add a contact." Tell Alexa the first name of the contact and that person's number. That person receives a code number by text. Read the number to Alexa. You can then say "Alexa, ask Find My Phone to call [name of contact]."

3Cell Phone Finder

You can track down your iPhone or Android phone with the Cell Phone Finder skill. Say "Alexa, start Cell Phone Finder." Alexa describes the service and gives you a number to call to register. Call the number from your phone and Alexa will ask for a PIN code. Enter the code to match your phone with the skill. After you're registered, you can say "Alexa, start Cell Phone Finder and call me." Alexa places the call to your missing phone. An automated recording announces that it's from Cell Phone Finder and tells you that it's glad you found your phone.

4Find My Phone By TrackR

Here's another skill known as Find My Phone, but this one from TrackR can reveal your phone's general location. First, install the TrackR app onto your iPhone or Android phone. From the app, choose the option for Alexa Integration. If you haven't yet enabled the skill, say "Alexa, enable the Find My Phone skill by TrackR." You then say "Alexa, ask TrackR for my PIN Code." Type the PIN code in the app. If your phone goes on the lam, say "Alexa, ask TrackR to find my phone." Alexa gives you an address where your phone was last found and asks if you want to ring your phone. An alarm and notification go off on your device to help you or someone else find it.

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About the Author

Surviving a long and varied career in publishing, advertising, and IT, Lance Whitney now wears a few different technology hats. By day, he's a journalist, software trainer, and sometime Web developer. By night, he's asleep. These days, he writes news stories, columns, and reviews for CNET and other technology sites and publications. He;s written two books for Wiley & Sons: Windows 8 Five Minutes at a Time in 2012, and Teach Yourself VISUALLY LinkedIn in 2014. Contact Lance via Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. See Full Bio